Milenomics² Episode 180: Follow Up of All Kinds, Late Breaking News and a Last Minute Trip Report

Follow Up

0:21 Things we said we’d do “I’ll apply for the MS Platinum right after the show”

• Applied again for one of these for myself and after a day of pending was approved!P2 is in limbo with MS account opening.
• Applied for this card and…. Denied
• The reason: Her MS account was closed on or around Dec 1.
  • Seems like I might have been successful if I applied before Dec 1 and after her account was in ‘limbo’
• Really regretting closing the Personal platinum before Jan 1 now.
• What’s the next best card to get for someone in the penalty box and who’s already got 3 Hilton cards.

08:17 Unwinding Amazon Pay with Points

• The 40% off american express offer is floating around.
• It defaults to paying with points for the entire purchase
• I had a rather large purchase get paid with points.
• Amazon will be completely useless and tell you to cancel/rebuy. That’s tough if it has already shipped.
• Returns won’t help for BG purchases but are an option
• I remember excellent advice here I learned from our community: ask Amex.
• The charges, at least for Amazon post like Amex flights, they charge you and then credit you and deduct the points.
• If anyone shares you account and accidentally did this–don’t worry! Just chat and save the holiday.

13:12 GC.com 5% codes: Fantastic for min spend

• Promo Code working after the show was recorded: CYBERSAVE
• We discussed the combo of AA shopping/GC.com/Promo codes 2 episodes ago (178)
• But the promo codes have stuck around for quite some time now
• And the novelty of ordering seems to have given way to a nice pattern of ordering.
• Liquidation can happen on Plastiq if you have the right target
• Or on Bravo
• The workflow is terrible but the scale is really great, especially from home.
• Works out to .5% cost with Bravo without acounting the portal points or earning on the card itself. That’s fantastic for:
• Getting citi balances spun up for 1-time use Fluz cards
• Min spend on cards without heavy bonus categories (airline cards for example)
• Taking a run at AA status.
• Be ready for the next time these codes comes around.

17:57 Update on 0 Amex MR condition and how to handle this

• Chat to merge the logins and call to merge the MR accounts
• Thanks to Mike C.
• See notes later in the show for another update.

21:50 BofA Elite Visa Infinite

• Lifestyle credit triggered with Fluz “Gyms” category
• Fluz Taxi and Digital Goods did not trigger
• 50,000 point welcome bonus posted as soon as $3,000 spend met (prior to statement close)
• Airfare in portal looks == airline direct (checked JetBlue and Delta domestic)
• Despite challenges, I think this card is a winner
• More Broadly
• I should update Fluz tab on master spreadsheet w/MCCs of all Cash Load categories
• What a lame bank BofA is (so many declined legit transactions, and the way they don’t tell you that is really annoying)

27:08 Delta Refunds

• Two record locators, two different results
• One worked fine, miles and $5.60 each refund
• Other only mentioned the $5.60 and not the 43,000 miles x2 for First
• Gave it a few days, didn’t come through, called
• Rep tracked it down and manually adjusted it but suggested calling is better than submitted online because they can redeposit instantly. Unclear why this is the case but here we are.

30:17 Breaking News: 0 MR Condition Resolved?

• Seems that new cards say around 12/5 or so are behaving as they should
• Most older cards aren’t self-healing

32:36 JetBlue Loyalty Program Overhaul (Direct Link)

Avelo Launches Loyalty Program (PaxEx)

• Discuss
• In a world where airline loyalty programs can be worth more than the airline, isn’t this something young airlines should think of first?
• Amazing how big credit card spenders can get top status in so many programs. Delta. Hyatt. AA. Now JetBlue. Big difference: Can you get the credit cards? And how to meet the spend in an efficient manner.

35:30 Bungled: Working Vacation step 1: flights

• I’ve mentioned my wife is trying to make our Kauai trip a working vacation.
• I didn’t consider this when booking the flights, but it is important to note that I need to consider flights outside my normal choices for these trips.
• Our ‘peach’ 1pm flight time means she’ll miss nearly an entire day of work if there’s no wifi on the plane (DL over water).
• I should have instead been looking at afternoon flights? Morning flights? Weekend flights.
• What would you do to maximize time ‘at work’ on outbound and return flights.

39:12 Short Notice Trip to Florida for Golf Match

• CapitalOne Exclusive 2 x 35,000 (Thanks Nick at FM!)
• Glad I didn’t close my Venture X - I wouldn’t have been able to do this
• Patched together Delta airfare and used Hilton free night certificates
• Should be able to use lots of Uber credits to get around
• Annoyance: Having to call for so many things that should be possible online

Sam: “Thanks for joining us for this week and thanks for your support. It really means a lot to us, and to everyone on the Milenomics Podcast Network. If you’ve got any suggestions for future shows we’d love to hear from you. Until then we’ll see you on the site...”

Robert: Thanks everybody. Catch you next week.